From the Treaty of Versailles to the Treaty of Maastricht: Conflict, Carnage And Cooperation In Europe, 1918 – 1993

This  book examines European history and politics between two very well-known  but flawed treaties: The Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of  Maastricht.

Taking the Treaty of Versailles, signed  following World War I, as a starting point, the volume argues that while  it was well-intentioned to the point of being utopian, it was also  totally impractical, rearranging the map of Europe in a way which led to  the tragic descent into conflict and barbarism in World War II. The  volume then moves through the post war period, the outcome of the war  producing the uneasy stability of a Cold War divided continent, and with  the establishment of NATO in 1949, the process of European integration  ushered in the era of cooperation. Under the influence of Charles de  Gaulle, the newly created European Community acted as an association of  sovereign states led by France and Germany, spurring economic growth and  encouraging other countries to apply to join. After de Gaulle’s  retirement in 1969, this approach was progressively abandoned in favour  of a federal model of integration in which member states transferred  their sovereignty to the institutions of what became the European Union.  Europe was to be transformed from a continent to a country. The book  concludes by analysing the Maastricht treaty, which enshrined this  process, as being as fatally flawed as the Versailles Treaty and charts  the post-Maastricht slow decline of the European Union giving way to  widespread Euroscepticism.

From the Treaty of  Versailles to the Treaty of Maastricht will appeal to researchers and  students alike interested in European history, politics and World War I  and II.